Description | Muintir na Tíre, was founded as a rural renewal movement in 1937. Its extensive archive, contains an abundance of material relating to social and economic conditions in rural Ireland, Irish rural civil society, the involvement of the Catholic clergy in local community organising, and rural civil society/state relationships over a period spanning more than 80 years. The collection consists of the administrative records of the headquarters of Muintir na Tíre, based in Tipperary Town, as well as records of some of the leading figures within the movement including Canon John Hayes, Archbishop Thomas Morris, Tomás Roseingrave, Jim Quigley and Pat Doyle. Coverage includes rural electrification, the parish plans of the 1950s, and a variety of national and European community development schemes from the 1970s onwards, most notably the Community Alert scheme. There are around 400 archival boxes of material in the collection. The strong relationship that developed over many years between Dr. Diarmuid Ó Cearbhaill and Dr. Tony Varley of NUI Galway and Mr. Tom Fitzgerald of Muintir na Tíre was important in leading to the donation of this archive to the University. |